Mind Screw
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Post-series, my Pendulum Swings verse. For months the Big Five have been haunted by how low they had fallen in my story Static Code Analysis. But suddenly, one autumn evening, a strange block over their memories is shattered and the truth comes out, a truth none of them had ever once thought.


**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Mind Screw**

**By Lucky_Ladybug**

**Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! I know probably no one but me is bothered by this, but I just keep being upset by things I had the Big Five do in their first story, **_**Static Code Analysis.**_** At the time, I only saw them as antagonists. When I got to know them better and wanted to redeem them, I was extremely distressed that I had made them do worse things that they'd done in canon. But since I run a connected timeline I didn't know how to fix it. I kept trying to feel alright about it, but I'm just not. Crystal Rose of Pollux helped me figure out a way to fix it while still keeping my timeline, and this is the result. It takes place in my post-series **_**Pendulum Swings**_** verse. The main story referenced is, of course, **_**Static Code Analysis**_**, but **_**True Night**_** also gets a fairly important mention.**

Nesbitt shot upright in bed, breathing heavily, his eyes haunted in the darkness. He gripped the quilt tightly, his hand shaking, until finally he let it go and started to ease his well-toned body out of bed. Normally if he awoke in the middle of the night he would go to his home office and start working on a project, but at the moment he didn't feel like doing anything.

He stepped into the hall, still trembling slightly. The corridor was fairly well-lit; he certainly didn't want Gansley to end up falling if he awoke and couldn't see where he was going. No one else seemed to be up, but it was comforting to know they were there and that he wasn't alone in the house with only his servants.

He sank against the wall, staring off at nothing, gripping the wood behind him with both hands. He wasn't expecting to be seen, but suddenly another door opened and Lector emerged. The older man stopped, frowning in concern at his friend.

"Nesbitt . . . ?"

Nesbitt shook his head and pushed away from the wall. "What," he grunted as he turned away.

"What's wrong?" Lector came closer in concern.

It was on the tip of Nesbitt's tongue to say it was nothing. But it really wasn't nothing and he found he couldn't bring himself to tell that flippant lie. So he stayed facing away from Lector as he replied. "I . . . I was dreaming. . . . About the fire. . . . The one I set. . . ." His voice came out brokenly. "Even in my darkest moments, how . . . how could I have done that?"

Lector went over to him. There were many things he could have said to that, many he wanted to say, but they wouldn't have served any purpose. Finally he just laid his hands on Nesbitt's shoulders. "We were all drowning in darkness. I don't know how I could have not just gone down there and got all of them out. Instead I was frozen." He shut his eyes. "I don't think I really believed it myself. I kept thinking it had to be fake, some kind of augmented reality technology you were using to toy with Mr. Kaiba. I couldn't believe you would . . ." He shook his head. "And by the time I realized it was real, Yami Bakura was running in there to get them out. All I could think to do was to create an exit for them."

Nesbitt sobbed, covering his eyes with a hand as he sank back against Lector. "There's no forgiveness for what I did. There can't be."

"Now, that's not true," Lector frowned. "Everyone's forgiven you."

"Except me," Nesbitt mumbled. "I never can."

"All of us except Lector wanted to permanently rid ourselves of those kids," Gansley suddenly spoke.

Nesbitt looked up with a start. Gansley had come out of his room without being noticed, and so had Crump and Johnson. They all regarded Nesbitt with sadness and sympathy and understanding.

"I don't really understand how it happened," Johnson admitted. "I mean, we'd been doing horrible things for years and we'd planned to trap the kids in Noa's world and escape in their places. Some would say that was worse. But . . . they still would have been alive, so there'd be hope that they could get out someday. . . ."

"We were all ticked off and hateful," Crump said. "It hurt even more to get back to the real world and still not be able to get back in our bodies. But . . . you know, I can't figure out how we ended up where we were during that augmented reality mess either. As bad as we were, that . . . that wasn't us. . . . At least, I never thought . . ." He shook his head. "We all got poisoned so bad by our hate. . . ."

Gansley gave a weary and sad nod. "It was like a dark fog had settled over us. None of us can ever get over what we did and tried to do, and yet we have to keep trying to live on in spite of it. We've made a good start at getting back on a right path, and all the kids we tried to harm have forgiven us, so I would say we're doing quite well right now."

"Wait a minute." Lector stared at his friends, stunned. "A dark fog. . . . It really was! A literal fog, not just a metaphor. I remember. . . ."

"What are you talking about?" Nesbitt snorted.

"When Mr. Kaiba was putting the finishing touches on his augmented reality game," Lector said. "We were all watching. Then . . . it was like this thick fog descended over all of us. And . . . that creature was there. Yami Marik!"

The others all stared at him in disbelief. But then Johnson gasped, removing his glasses. "You're right!" he exclaimed. "He was . . . he was trying to poison us with his dark magic, to make our hatred worse. . . . We tried to resist, but he was strong and we were so weakened and afraid. . . . He overpowered almost all of us, forcing his darkness into our hearts and telling us to go after the kids permanently. . . ."

Gansley gripped his cane, his hand trembling. "But Lector still managed to resist," he remembered. "He wouldn't fall darker than we'd already fallen. That was why . . . all our memories were erased. . . . His had to be so he wouldn't be able to remind us of what happened, and . . ."

"Ours were so we'd think everything was our own ideas," Crump gasped. "I remember him laughing and saying he was taking his cues from the Orichalcos and the Neo-Orichalcos, that the corruption would expand on our feelings that were really there and make us think we wanted to do even worse. . . ."

"And that's why I set fire to that warehouse, because I was under Yami Marik's spell?!" Nesbitt cried.

"It's starting to sound like that's why we did all those horrible things during that mess," Lector breathed. "I did terrible things too. I wasn't completely free of the spell. It was all because of him and his dark magic that he forced on us!"

"But you weren't under his spell," Johnson protested. "You kept trying to convince us not to go through with our plans. I imagine that made him furious."

"No doubt," Gansley agreed.

"I could have done more than I did," Lector said. "I'm sure I didn't completely fight it off."

Nesbitt shook his head. "But even just thinking we wanted to go through with those things isn't the same as doing them. I really tried to go through with it! To think I'm capable of that, even under a spell . . ." He turned away. "How could I have been that lost? Johnson, you didn't kill Bakura when you were supposedly going to go through with it. You just teleported him out and back to our headquarters. But I . . ."

Lector reached out for him. "Nesbitt . . ."

"I told you to do it," Gansley remembered with a heavy heart. "I am also at fault."

Not listening or caring, Nesbitt slammed his fist into the wall. "I tried to murder five people! I wasn't being mind-controlled, like I was later. That was bad enough! Here, I was just a corrupted version of myself! I still did it!" He slumped forward in despair. "I still did it. . . ."

Lector closed his eyes in defeat and laid his hand on Nesbitt's shoulder. Even as he did, the unwanted memories were coming back to him, from the same moment Nesbitt had been tortured by. The rooftop duel. . . . Nesbitt turning and ordering the Fire dragon head to burn the warehouse. . . . It complying. . . .

Only . . .

Why did Lector hear the echo of another voice instead, one ordering a different Fire monster to attack?

"_You weakling! For all of your hatred, you still couldn't do it! But that's alright; that only makes this even more fun. I'll do it and make everyone remember it was you, including you!"_

Lector stiffened. Was it just wishful thinking, something to soothe Nesbitt's anguish? Or . . . could it be a genuine memory, like the others they were getting back?

"Nesbitt . . ." Gansley said quietly. "I don't think you did it. Nor did I tell you to do it."

Nesbitt looked up with a jerk. "What?!"

"Yami Marik did it, and altered our memories," Johnson said.

"You're just trying to make me feel better," Nesbitt snorted.

"No," Lector said. "I started to remember the same thing before they said anything."

"Well, _I _don't remember!" Nesbitt snapped. "It's nice of all of you to try, but I know what I did." He pushed away from the wall and stormed back to his bedroom. The door tightly shut after him.

Crump flinched. "Oh boy."

"Yami Marik must have put a stronger seal on his memories," Johnson said.

"Or he remembers just like we're starting to, but he can't bring himself to believe it's real," Lector said.

"Are _we_ sure it's real?" Johnson asked. "What if this is more of Yami Marik's torture, thinking we remember he did it when in reality we were solely responsible all along?"

"Yugi told me he did something like this to all of them," Lector said. "He completely erased their memories of some sick Shadow Game he put them in so they wouldn't remember how close they all got because of it. But the seal wasn't permanent; they all started to remember after several months."

"So now our seal hit its expiry date and we're all remembering too?" Crump blinked.

"Exactly," Lector nodded. "And maybe Mr. Kaiba and Mr. Wheeler and everyone else who was in that twisted duel remembers as well." He grabbed the phone. "I'm going to find out."

xxxx

Yugi was stunned when his phone rang in the middle of the night and he answered to a worried Lector. "Lector?! What's wrong?!" He sat up in bed. "I know you wouldn't call at this time of night unless it was really bad. . . ."

"I'm sorry, Yugi. I really felt this couldn't wait," Lector said. "I need to know. . . . Do you remember anything . . . different about the time when we took over Mr. Kaiba's augmented reality game?"

"Huh?" Yugi paused, thinking. He was still waking up, so things were fuzzy in his mind, but the more he thought about it, the more something really was coming to him. "Oh my gosh!" he gasped.

"Yugi?" Now Atem was waking up in the bed across the room. "What's going on?"

"I'm remembering something really important," Yugi said. "When the Big Five took over Kaiba's augmented reality game . . ."

". . . It was Yami Marik who set fire to the warehouse!" Atem exclaimed. "I remember as well! He changed everyone's memories so we'd all think Nesbitt and the Five-Headed Dragon did it!"

Lector's heart swelled. "Thank you so much, both of you," he said.

"Does Nesbitt remember yet?" Yugi demanded.

"I don't know," Lector sighed. "He thinks we're just trying to make him feel better. It's so incredible that he can't make himself believe it's true yet."

"Poor guy," Yugi said softly. "Well, I hope he'll believe it soon. We'll come talk to him, if that would help. . . ."

"It may be necessary," Lector said. "Although he may think anyone who says anything about it is just trying to soothe his feelings unless he can remember on his own and accept it as the truth."

"Yeah . . ." Yugi sighed. "Well, hopefully he can come to terms with it soon. . . ."

"I certainly hope so," Lector said.

xxxx

Mokuba started awake out of a deep sleep. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of his bedroom, the blocked memories suddenly flooded back into his mind. He gasped, leaping out of bed and running to the door. He flung it open wide, then stopped. Seto hardly got any sleep as it was. Mokuba didn't want to wake him up, even for something like this.

But Seto's door opened moments later. He stood in the doorway, badly shaken, his hair flying in every direction.

"Seto?" Mokuba stared at him. "What's wrong?"

Seto looked to him as if stunned to see him up right at this point. Then he shook his head. "Nesbitt didn't do it," he whispered. "I don't understand this at all, but I remember now that he _couldn't_ do it. That slimeball Yami Marik did it. . . ."

Mokuba ran over, hugging Seto around the waist. "I remember too," he declared.

Seto started. "You know what I'm talking about?"

Mokuba nodded. "When we were trapped and someone set the warehouse on fire." He looked up at Seto. "It really wasn't Nesbitt. . . ."

Seto slowly drew Mokuba close. "I don't understand why we'd think it was. . . ."

"Yami Marik did that too," Mokuba said bitterly. "He came into the warehouse, laughing and bragging that he was burning us up, and that he was going to make us remember it was poor Nesbitt instead."

Seto's expression twisted in disgust. "More magic," he snarled. "That figures."

Mokuba sighed but couldn't disagree. Magic often was at the forefront of their troubles. But on the other hand, magic had helped them many a time. Seto, however, would likely always detest it regardless.

"We'll have to let Nesbitt know we remember the truth," Mokuba said.

"We will," Seto promised. "In the morning."

Mokuba was willing to accept that compromise. He smiled and hugged Seto close. "Okay, big brother."

xxxx

Across town, Marik, Duke, David, Serenity, and all the rest were also awakening with the forgotten knowledge of the truth.

Duke especially was shaken as he sat up in bed. "I thought it was Nesbitt," he said aloud to the room. "It took so long to even try to forgive him for that on top of everything else he did, but that time he wasn't even guilty. . . ." He got up and crossed to the doors, staring out at the city lights. "I hated him all that time . . . and he couldn't even do it. . . ." His shoulders slumped.

He wasn't really surprised when his phone rang. "Duke!" Serenity exclaimed. "Are you remembering . . . ?!"

"Yeah. I sure am," Duke said. He gripped the phone. "Nesbitt was a victim too. All this time we've thought he tried to kill me and the others, and _he's_ thought it . . . and it's not even true."

"That poor man," Serenity said softly. "I can't imagine how badly he's been hurting. I wonder what else Yami Marik might have manipulated about that time. . . ."

"I'm sure we'll find out," Duke said, his voice dark. "He really seems to like targeting those guys, even more than we realized."

"He likes targeting all of us," Serenity said. "By hurting them, and making us think they did things to us that they didn't do, he hurt everyone."

"That's sure true," Duke conceded.

"Later today we should probably all meet and talk about this and let Mr. Nesbitt know we know the truth," Serenity said.

"Yeah," Duke agreed. "We should."

xxxx

_The rooftop duel had been underway for quite some time, and was currently in favor of the Big Five's opponents. But the Big Five were undaunted._

_Gansley walked to the edge of the roof and pointed. "Do you see that building down there?"_

_Seto narrowed his eyes. "It's been vacant for months. What about it?"_

"_Oh, it's not vacant right now," Gansley crowed. "There's something very precious to you inside it. If you don't forfeit the duel to us, we will take your brother with us and you will never see him again."_

_Seto went stiff. "No! You wouldn't!"_

"_We will never forfeit this duel!" Atem cried._

"_Then that kid and his friends have a worse fate in store than what Gansley just said," Nesbitt said._

_Gansley's eyes, darkened by Yami Marik's spell, still flickered slightly as something in Nesbitt's tone pierced through to Gansley's soul. "Nesbitt?!"_

"_Fire dragon head, burn- . . ." Nesbitt trailed off, horror coming into his eyes. "No. . . ." He gripped his forehead. "What am I saying? What's . . . what's wrong with me? . . ."_

_The rest of the Big Five turned to stare at him. "Nesbitt?!" Gansley exclaimed, harsher this time. "What were you trying to do?!"_

_Nesbitt just shook his head. "I . . ."_

"_What were you going to do?!" Lector cried._

"_I . . . won't," Nesbitt choked out. "I can't. . . ." He fell to one knee, still shaking, desperate to fight off the force he was realizing had intruded in his mind._

"_I can!" Yami Marik suddenly appeared on the roof, his expression twisted in cruelty. "I thought all of you were so filled with hatred that you would do anything, especially under my spell, but obviously I was wrong. You weakling!" He looked mockingly at Nesbitt. "For all of your hatred, you still couldn't do it! But that's alright; that only makes this even more fun. I'll do it and make everyone remember it was you, including you!" He gave a wild gesture and his monster sent a fireball at the warehouse._

_Seto went completely pale. "MOKUBA!"_

_Nesbitt leaped to his feet. "No!"_

"_What are you doing?!" Lector screamed._

"_I'm torching everyone inside," Yami Marik said in sadistic delight. "And you're all going to remember that Gansley orchestrated it and Nesbitt did it instead of me."_

"_But they wouldn't do it!" Lector roared._

"_That's the beauty of it!" Yami Marik grinned._

Nesbitt looked up, breathing heavily, slowly letting go of the death grip he had on the quilt. Still shaky, he got to his feet and went over to the door. It wasn't a surprise to still find the rest of the Big Five in the hall. They all snapped to attention as the door opened.

"Nesbitt . . ." Lector began.

"I didn't do it," Nesbitt whispered. "I really didn't do it. . . . I remember. . . ."

Lector smiled. "Of course you didn't do it," he said as he drew Nesbitt close in a hug.

Nesbitt clutched him close, choking back a sob.

"None of us wanted to do it," Lector whispered. "That was why Yami Marik tried to put us under a spell. It just wouldn't work otherwise."

"And it didn't even work that way," Gansley said. He gruffly smiled as the burden on his own heart fully lifted. "I've felt horrible all this time because of having told Nesbitt to do it . . . I thought. But I didn't do that either."

Nesbitt was silent for a long moment. "What about what I tried to do later to Mr. Kaiba?" he wondered. "Alright, so maybe I couldn't harm people who'd never actually hurt us, even while under a spell, but Mr. Kaiba most definitely hurt us. Did I really rewire his computer console to try to . . ."

"I don't know." Lector paused, thinking. "I'm not remembering that Yami Marik intervened then, but maybe he did. He could have directly mind-controlled you. In any case, you _were_ under a spell all through that mess. But . . . I kind of feel like when you got so upset and fell apart at the thought of setting fire to the warehouse, you probably wouldn't have felt up to rewiring the console a short time later."

"Maybe," Nesbitt said noncommittally.

"If there's another explanation for that, we will likely remember that as well," Gansley said. "Or you will. Give it an hour or two."

Nesbitt frowned, not as convinced. But he didn't protest.

"That's why our dragon can still obey us yet be good," Lector said. "Remember, Nesbitt, you wondered recently how it could have set fire to the warehouse without batting an eye?"

Nesbitt nodded. "It didn't do it. . . . I wonder if it thought it did. . . ."

"Even if Yami Marik didn't change its memories, there wouldn't have been anything it could do to let us know the truth," Lector said.

"What about in the Shadow Realm?" Johnson wondered. "I didn't think we were still under Yami Marik's spell then, but we were certainly filled with darkness and despair."

"Because the Shadow Realm itself is filled with those things, and it poisons everyone who gets sent there." Lector shuddered. He was still badly affected by his time in that place. "Maybe we _were_ still under the spell then, like poor Miss Valentine was when she was sent there."

"I suppose that's unfortunately possible. In any case, we were immediately plunged into a situation that was just as bad, if not worse, than Yami Marik's spell alone," Gansley said. "Not to mention that even if we didn't want to kill the kids in our right minds, we still had quite a bit of darkness in our hearts regardless. There was plenty for the Shadow Realm to work with."

"You know, I bet Yami Marik's hoppin' mad that we're all finally remembering the truth," Crump said.

"No doubt," Gansley grunted. "And I'm sure he'll be back to cause more trouble for us sooner or later."

"But for now, let's just enjoy what we're re-discovering," Johnson said.

All of them fully agreed.

The next day, everyone would have a large get-together to talk about what they were remembering and rejoice that all was not as they had believed for months. Even though forgiveness had already been extended before, the new information would bring all of them closer together than ever. And somewhere in the darkness of the Shadow Realm, Yami Marik would curse their humanity and their love for each other and wish that he could find a way to destroy it.

But he never would.


End file.
